9th & 9th

Stephanie Pugmire

Personal Blog

9th and 9th gave me a new understanding of community. On our way down the main street we stopped at this awesome gelato place, Dolcetti Gelato. Upon questioning the man working behind the counter, we found out that this family owned business had

replaced the Starbucks that was previously there. I thought that it was a testamen

t to the overall feeling of 9^th and 9^th—supporting the growth of private places rather than chains. This was seen not only at that little gelato shop either. A little down the street there is a tiny theater attached to a movie rental store. I’m not going to lie; this place was ghetto. Most of the movies for rent were only available on VHS, and the overall selection was a little strange.

Obviously, this place had been there for a long time, and the reason it was still there was because of local support.

The feel of the area was welcoming and safe feeling. As we ate our gelato sitting in the store, two children around 5^th grade level were also enjoying an after school snack. The store has a special just for this purpose, which I thought was nice. Anyways, as we are all sitting, a man walks in to order. The two elementary school kids got really excited; the man who had walked in was their teacher. I was so surprised to see what I would consider a small-town happenstance in a place like Salt Lake, but it just goes to show that that close-community feeling can be present anywhere, even in a city environment. I never thought about before how all of the smaller circles, or communities, we have in Salt Lake work together to form the whole picture. This walkabout definitely opened my eyes to this, and I feel that it is a main contributor to what makes Salt Lake unique.